To raise awareness of the growing challenge posed by the environment to children’s health, EPHA has launched a publication entitled "Children’s Health in Europe: Tackling Environmental Threats". Over 40% of the global burden of disease attributed to environmental risk factors falls on children under five years of age, who account for only 10% of the world population.
Five priority health challenges included are:
Asthma and allergies, which are on the rise in western Europe;
Injuries - the bigger killer of children age 1-14 across Europe;
Cancer;
Water and food-borne diseases - a major cause of diarrhoeal disease in Europe, and a cause of infant death in the poorer regions in Europe and globally;
Neurodevelopmental disorders, which are irreversible, and are growing in some areas of Europe.
A postcard has been produced to accompany the booklet and to get NGOs involved in the run-up to the 4th Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health, to be held in Budapest in June 2004. The publication can be downloaded here or paper copies may be obtained from the EPHA Secretariat upon request. You can also download a press release, which summarises some of the main findings.
